KYIV, Ukraine — Russia launched waves of missiles and drones targeting Kyiv early Monday that killed at least 11 people, authorities said, hours after Ukraine's president warned that a large-scale attack was imminent.Another 60 people were wounded, according to local officials, as emergency workers combed through rubble looking for survivors at residential high-rise buildings in two locations that suffered direct hits.The new attack came days after a Russian strike killed 31 people in the capital on Thursday, the deadliest for the capital this year.Russia's Defense Ministry said the bombardment was retaliation for Ukraine's recent long-range strikes, which have caused severe fuel shortages and pressured President Vladimir Putin.More than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, Ukraine's advances in drone technology have given it an edge in recent months, analysts and Western officials say.
Strikes on supply routes behind the front line have stripped the Russian army of momentum on the battlefield, they say, slowing its advance and driving up the cost.But Russia is now exploiting a different kind of momentum: gaps in Ukraine's air defenses, which remain heavily reliant on the U.S.Patriot systems to intercept ballistic missiles it can rarely shoot down any other way.
The war in the Middle East has strained the global supply of Patriot interceptors, already produced in limited numbers — a shortage now most of all being felt in Ukraine.Ukraine's Air Force said Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles at the country overnight, targeting mainly Kyiv and 29 ballistic missiles that were launched struck their targets, underscoring how little Ukraine can do to stop them."To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception," Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said on national television, commenting on last night's attack."Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now...